Please make sure you're familiar with the policy on Suppressing vs. Deleting bibs and holdings: Collection Management - Policy for Suppression and Deletion

You are responsible for making sure that you do not withdraw items that Harvard has committed to retaining in perpetuity. As of Jan 2019, this applies to certain items at ReCap. Retention commitments are noted in Statistics Note 2.

You are also responsible for making sure you do not remove a record that is referenced in another holding's 977 (bound-wtih) field.

Overview

In Alma, withdrawing and deleting an item are the same thing. There is a difference in Best Practice for each of these, explained below.
Although withdrawn items do not appear in Alma and are not published to Primo, staff can view a historical record of these items in Analytics reports.
While withdrawing an item, you should delete holdings records that do not have any remaining active items attached. Suppression should only be used for holdings/items retained in the catalog that should not be visible to patrons.

Best practice for item withdraws

If you are deleting an item made in error, this best practice does not apply.
For an item being withdrawn due to physical condition, update the Physical Condition field in the Item record (General tab).
For items being withdrawn for other reasons, note the reason in Internal Note 3, as follows. If staff have had training on the change physical items job, adding the note can be done using this batch function.
- Withdrawn/Damaged
- Withdrawn/Lost
- Withdrawn/Missing
- Withdrawn/Superseded
- Withdrawn/Weeded
- Withdrawn/HDProject (For use in approved LTS projects only)

Withdrawing the Last Item on a Holding

If the last item is being withdrawn from a holdings record, the Last Item dialog box appears, with several options.

When removing items from the collection, best practice is to choose "Delete the bibliographic record (unless other holdings are present)."

This option will also delete the holdings linked to the item being withdrawn.
If the item is linked to an open POL, you will not be able to withdraw it until the POL is resolved. This system will alert you if this is the case. See instruction further below on POLs.
Remember - you only get this dialog box if you're withdrawing the last item on the holding. It won't be presented if there are other items on the holding.
Withdrawn items, as well as deleted bibs/hols are still reportable in Analytics.

Note that in the batch item withdraw option list, the text is slightly different and the delete option is in a different place:

To withdraw one item

Search for the item(s) that you want to withdraw.
Update the item per best practice: note the reason for withdrawal in Internal Note 3 per the list above, and/or update Physical Condition field.
Ensure that there is no retention commitment in Statistics Note 2
Withdraw the item:
- If you conduct a Physical Items search (where each result is a individual item record), then you can use the action menu from the search result and choose Withdraw.
- If you another type of search, choose the Items link from the search results to see all items on that bib. Use the action menu to the right of the item and choose Withdraw.
From the resulting pop-up, choose Confirm.
If the item is currently on loan, Alma will ask you to address the loan before withdrawing the item.

To withdraw multiple items on a single holding

Conduct a search using All Titles or Physical Titles.
Choose the Holdings link that has the items you want to withdraw
From the List of Holdings, use the action menu to choose View Items. (This will be items for only that holding).
Edit each item to note the reason for withdrawal in Internal Note 3 and/or update Physical Condition field, per best practice.
Ensure that there is no retention commitment in Statistics Note 2
Use the checkboxes to select the items that need to be withdrawn.
Click Withdraw Items from the upper right menu. From the resulting pop-up, choose Confirm.
If the item is currently on loan, Alma will ask you to address the loan before withdrawing the item.

To withdraw an item attached to an open PO line

Attached to an open One time or Physical Standing order monograph PO Line

To withdraw an item attached to an open (i.e. any POL status other than Closed or Cancelled) One time or Physical Standing order monograph PO line:

Either manually close the POL and then Withdraw or;
Remove the POL link in the item by clicking on the X within the PO Line field on the General tab of the item
- PLEASE NOTE: When removing the POL link in the item and then Withdrawing the last item on a holding, the holding and/or bibliographic record will also be deleted (see "Withdrawing the last item on a holding" above). This will result in an order that is no longer linked to inventory. Either edit the POL to add new inventory (holding and item); relink the POL to another item; or Cancel, Close or Delete the POL as appropriate. Withdrawing an item without addressing the associated open order can result in encumbrances not being released.

Attached to an open Physical subscription or Standing order non-monograph PO Line

To withdraw an item attached to an open (i.e. any POL status other than Closed or Cancelled) Physical subscription or Standing order non-monograph PO line:

There is no need to clear out the link to the Holdings PO Line; simply Withdraw the item

Migrated predicted item attached to an open Physical subscription or Standing order non-monograph PO Line

A note about withdrawing a migrated predicted item attached to an open (i.e. any POL status other than Closed or Cancelled) Physical subscription or Standing order non-monograph PO line:

First try withdrawing the item without clearing the link to the Holdings PO Line.

If that does not work successfully and you receive the following system message: “There is a PO line [XXX] linked to this item [XXX]. Please handle the order (using the PO line pages) before withdrawing this item / these items,” follow these instructions to remove the association between the item and the holding:

Remove the associated continuous POL from the holding
1. From the list of holdings, choose the one that you want to disassociate from the POL
2. Click the ellipsis for the holdings from which you want to unlink the POL
3. Choose “Associate a PO Line”
4. When the box appears for “Please Select a PO Line” the POL that you do not want to be associated with the holdings will show up
5. Click the X to clear the POL from the box (the box will be empty after you do that)
6. Then click the “Update” button and it will unlink the POL from the holdings
Withdraw the desired item
Re-associate the continuous POL to the holding
1. From the list of holdings, choose the ellipsis to the right of your holding and select Associate a PO Line
2. Find your POL and click Update
3. This will link the holding and associated items to the POL

For more information about adding and removing POL links in items, see Adding and Removing PO Line links to Items and Holdings.